Greater Northern Tigers under 16s and under 18s to play North Coast Bulldogs

The Tigers' Andrew Johns Cup (under 16s) and Laurie Daley Cup (under 18s) sides take on the Bulldogs at Aberdeen after trial wins over Newcastle Knights development sides last week.

Coaches Brett Jarrett (16s) and Darryl Rando (18s) have talented young squads and have been outstanding players in their own right.

Both played in the NRL lower grades before returning to the country where Jarrett has starred with Dungowan in Group 4 and Rando captain-coached Scone to a number of Group 21 first grade premierships.

While Jarrett is still playing with the Cowboys, Rando has been retired for a long while and is still suffering and recovering from a bad ankle injury that needs pinning.

The ankle injury hasn't affected his enthusiasm and delight to be coaching the 18s side.

"Looking forward to it," Rando said after Saturday's trial against the Knights.

"We've got a bit to work on. That was a pretty good win, though. We mixed and matched and all of them performed well. We have a little bit of size [in the forwards] and a very good spine. We've got the makings of a side that can do very well."

Rando's spine consists of outstanding Farrer fullback Mitch Henderson, talented halves Ethan Antzakles and Pichai "Tommy" Dixon as well as hooker Harry Reid.

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"They are four key positions," Rando said.

"And we have some good size in the forwards with Mark Simon and Jake Clydesdale. We also have a very mobile back row [Hayden Bull, Luke Smith and Samuel Fechner].

"It's just a matter of getting together as a squad."

The Tiger 18s will keep their 20-man squad together as they have five games to play over the next five Saturdays in case of injury.

The squad will train together again in Scone on Friday evening before tackling the North Coast Bulldogs in the first round games at Aberdeen's McKinnon Oval on Saturday.

The Andrew Johns Cup match kicks off at 11am with the Laurie Daley Cup match timed for a 12.20pm start.

TIGERS UNDER 16S

1 Riley Pennell, 2 Drewe Gilbert, 3 Tully Whollert, 4 Riley Witherdin, 5 Jack Smyth, 6 Charlie Henderson, 7 Callum Dowell, 8 Matthew Ross, 9 Talon Harrington, 10 Sebastian Lawler, 11 Lachlan Bonnell, 12 Logan Spinks, 13 Nathaniel Follington, 14 Jacob Cordina, 15 Jasper Thistle, 16 Brady Roser, 17 Harrison Vermeulen, 18 Gabriel Stafa. Coach - Brett Jarrett.

TIGERS UNDER 18S

1 Mitch Henderson, 2 Jesse Cadalbert, 3 Blake Johnston, 4 Corben Hampstead, 5 Dylan Smith, 6 Ethan Antzakles, 7 Pichai Dixon, 8 Mark Simon, 9 Harry Reid, 10 Jake Clydesdale, 11 Luke Smith, 12 Hayden Bull, 13 Samuel Fechner, 14 Ned Chaman, 15 Toby Taggart, 16 Alexander Lawrence, 17 Charlie Parsons, 18 Billy Youman, 19 Daniel McMillan, 20 Joash Boney. Coach - Darryl Rando.